Laing Ebba, Acebo de Arriba Rita, Schramm Elisabeth, Schäffeler Norbert, Zipfel Stephan, Stengel Andreas, Graf Johanna
Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Psycho-Oncology Division, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Comprehensive Cancer Center Tübingen-Stuttgart, University Hospital Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
Front Psychiatry. 2025 Apr 25;16:1531756. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1531756. eCollection 2025.
Patients with cancer suffering from comorbid symptoms of depression need a psychotherapeutic treatment that is specifically tailored to the exceptional context of acute or chronic cancer treatment. The conceptualization of depression in Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) is a promising framework for symptoms of depression in patients with cancer, because it focuses on coping with stressful life events, managing change and accessing social support.
The intervention was developed based on standard practice of group IPT for depression and adapted to the oncology setting by an expert panel. The IPT intervention comprises 10 weekly sessions of 60 minutes each. It is structured into modules incorporating IPT core themes: role transitions, grief, connection and interpersonal conflict. This feasibility study with an integrated qualitative study seeks to ascertain feasibility and acceptability of a larger trial of modified group IPT for adult patients with cancer within the context of a university clinics' outpatient treatment. In addition, the study will enable first evidence of the intervention's efficacy in reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety, and changes in interpersonal factors such as loneliness, thwarted sense of belonging, perceived burdensomeness, and perceived social support. Post-intervention semi-structured interviews will be recorded for qualitative content analysis.
Our findings will suggest whether investigating group IPT as proposed is an acceptable, feasible and safe approach to ameliorate symptoms of depression in patients with cancer. The study is innovative in that it provides a new treatment to patients of different cancer types and treatment stages, creating a setting that is naturalistic and realistic in the context of psycho-oncology services.
患有抑郁症合并症状的癌症患者需要一种专门针对急性或慢性癌症治疗特殊情况量身定制的心理治疗方法。人际心理治疗（IPT）中对抑郁症的概念化是癌症患者抑郁症症状的一个有前景的框架，因为它专注于应对压力性生活事件、管理变化以及获得社会支持。
该干预措施是基于抑郁症团体IPT的标准实践开发的，并由一个专家小组根据肿瘤学环境进行了调整。IPT干预包括每周10次，每次60分钟的课程。它被构建为包含IPT核心主题的模块：角色转变、悲伤、人际关系和人际冲突。这项结合了定性研究的可行性研究旨在确定在大学诊所门诊治疗背景下，对成年癌症患者进行改良团体IPT更大规模试验的可行性和可接受性。此外，该研究将首次证明该干预措施在减轻抑郁和焦虑症状以及人际因素变化（如孤独感、归属感受挫、感知到的负担感和感知到的社会支持）方面的有效性。干预后将进行半结构化访谈以进行定性内容分析。
我们的研究结果将表明，按照提议研究团体IPT是否是改善癌症患者抑郁症状的一种可接受、可行且安全的方法。该研究具有创新性，因为它为不同癌症类型和治疗阶段的患者提供了一种新的治疗方法，在心理肿瘤学服务的背景下创造了一个自然且现实的环境。
